Minneapolis eyes cash in deal for Vikings stadium

The Minnesota Vikings run onto the field before the game against the Dallas Cowboys on August 27, 2011 at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis. (Getty Images: Hannah Foslien)

Over the years, the city of Minneapolis has poured millions of dollars into the Metrodome, the current home of the Minnesota Vikings.

If the Vikings relocate to a proposed stadium in Arden Hills and the Metrodome is sold to help fund the move, Minneapolis wants its money back - all $30 million of it.

That, in essence, was the substance of a letter this week from Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson to Gov. Mark Dayton's office, which is still in negotiations with the team over a stadium package.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Rybak's office denied that the letter was a strong-arm tactic to get the team to stay in Minneapolis after its lease expires at the end of the 2011 season. It was, said communications director John Stiles, a valid request to be "made whole."

Rybak "has always said that if the Vikings, Ramsey County and the state can work out a deal to locate the stadium in Arden Hills, he will not stand in the way, even if he does not care for the prospect of tax dollars' being used to move a business out of Minneapolis," wrote Stiles, in an email to the Pioneer Press.

"The only thing new in this letter is quantifying the City of Minneapolis' public contributions to the Metrodome and the request that as part of a regional solution, Minneapolis be made whole if tax dollars are used to move the Vikings out of the city.

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Stiles said the mayor's office learned only about a week ago that negotiations between the Vikings and lawmakers now call for proceeds from the sale of the Metrodome to fund the Arden Hills site.

"It was our feeling that was unfair to the city of Minneapolis," Stiles said.

Asked about Rybak's letter during a Capitol news conference Thursday, Dayton said he had read it but has not had a chance to review it with his staff members who are working on a stadium deal.

He said he doesn't dispute Minneapolis' claim that the city has put more than $30 million into the Metrodome over time and had no reason to believe that figure is not valid.

Although $30 million is a lot of money, he said, it's only a small part of a $1.1 billion stadium project.

"I said a couple of weeks ago I thought the price tag for the project itself, as well as the Vikings' share, is only going to inch upward as things unfold," Dayton said.

Rybak maintains state law is on Minneapolis' side. His letter points out that under current law, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission is supposed to transfer $5 million from the sale of the Metrodome to Hennepin County, and the remainder to a stadium account to pay debt service on bonds issued to pay for a stadium.

Under a separate provision, the Sports Facilities Commission also would be required to transfer $5 million from its cash reserves to Minneapolis for future infrastructure costs at the Metrodome site.

"Both provisions...have the force of law," Rybak and Johnson wrote.

Lester Bagley, a spokesman for the Vikings, isn't disputing the law. He said the first provision, however, supports the idea that money from the sale of the Metrodome go toward a new stadium in Arden Hills, as the Metrodome is already paid for.

"Current law says that the proceeds of the sale of the Metrodome will go into the football stadium, and that's current law," Bagley said. "It was passed in 2006 as part of the (Minnesota) Twins bill, and Minneapolis supported it. ... The Metrodome is paid for, and they've got $12 million in the bank.

"Ultimately, the bottom line is the governor and the Legislature will determine the disposition of the proceeds of the sale of the Metrodome," Bagley continued. "In 2006, when the law was passed, the proposed location was Anoka County. Now, the location is Arden Hills. I'm not sure what happened between 2006 and now that the city of Minneapolis decided to object."

An analysis prepared in 2009 for the Metropolitan Sports Commission by accounting consultants RSM McGladrey sums up the city of Minneapolis' dome-related contributions as $30.5 million.

The report found that from 1979 to 1984, $15.8 million in revenue was generated by a 3 percent tax on liquor sales and hotel/motel accommodations. The tax was lowered to 2 percent in 1984.

From 1983 to 1993, an additional $5.8 million was generated by three city-owned parking ramps. To this day, the city also dedicates $75,000 in annual revenues from city parking meters, totaling $4.9 million.

Minneapolis spent an additional $4 million to reroute sewer and water lines and streets to accommodate Metrodome construction.

Rybak's letter to the governor's office notes that the expense total doesn't take into account harder-to-quantify costs such as police and fire coverage for events, or public works expenditures.

Meanwhile, the mayor maintains that the city hasn't gotten all that much back, relatively speaking. The report states that the Metrodome has generated more than $319 million in public tax revenue over the years, but Minneapolis has pocketed only $14.4 million, or 4.5 percent of it.

Much of the public revenue was raised through personal income tax on the players and members of the Vikings organization, as well as through state and local sales, liquor and gross receipt taxes from events.

Asked about the overall status of the Vikings stadium, Dayton said Thursday that he was waiting for the Metropolitan Council to complete a land-use and risk analysis. The report is due by Oct. 15.

"We need to know what our options are...and what obstacles we have to overcome at that site," he said.

That information is vital for the Vikings, for legislators and for himself as governor, Dayton said. "I can't ask people to support a deal when we can't tell them specifically what it is."

Staff writer Bill Salisbury contributed to this report. Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172.